Broken Warriors
by NoxChyc
Summary: Brought together by the death of a common ally a year before the next Makai Tournament is due to commence, Sora and Hiei find themselves working together to hunt down a murderess demon in order to avenge the death of a friend and loved one. New friendships will blossom and sparks will fly as they reach their goal. But can they overcome the trials laid out by their common enemy?
1. Caged

***** Author note/announcement for those previously following this story at end of the chapter. *****

About a year from where they left off in the Yu Yu Hakusho series...

It was late. Everyone at Genkai's compound was sound asleep in their rooms. All but one. The fox demon, Kurama, was having trouble finding sleep. He laid on the futon in his assigned room simply staring at the ceiling, mind wondering.

He, along with Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara, had decided to spend the summer at the compound so they could come up with ideas on how to fulfill Genkai's wish. Helping demons learn to live with humans in peace wouldn't be an easy task, but he and the rest of the team would find a way. Their team was notorious for making things happen after all.

No longer able to find a comfortable position on the bed, Kurama decided to go outside to get some fresh air. After slipping on his shoes and stepping out the door, he was met by a beautiful, warm summer night. A sky full of stars complete with a full moon decorated the green landscape as he looked around. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he inhaled the humid air, taking in the scent of the cedar and maple trees residing in the surrounding forest. His eyes opened as a very different scent met his nose.

The scent of a demon.

This discovery didn't alarm him in the slightest, however for he immediately recognized the scent. He zeroed in on the demon's energy to location them.

 _Hmm. I wonder what he's doing here..._ Kurama thought to himself as he turned to start toward the source of the familiar scent.

Kurama ventured into the woods, weaving through the mixture of small and large trees until he came to a cliff's edge overlooking a valley. The valley, while beautiful to behold under the full moonlight, was nothing special itself. Just a field of grass with a few loan trees scattered about it. Standing at the edge of the cliff looking up at the sky was the demon he had sensed.

Hiei.

Kurama walked over to stand next to him, turning his gaze up to admire the stars as well.

"So, you've finally come out of hiding."

Hiei scoffed in response. "I wasn't hiding."

Kurama continued to look at the sky. "You disappeared after her death so most assumed you were." After a short moment with no reply, he discreetly looked over at his friend to try and assess his mood. His shoulders dropped slightly upon seeing the fire demon's clenched jaw and red eyes staring into nothing.

"So, if you weren't hiding then what were you doing?" He turned his full attention over to Hiei this time, hoping to prompt more of a response from him.

Hiei brought his gaze down to the valley. "I was hunting."

Kurama gave a slight nod, now getting a better understanding of his friend's current mindset. "For her killer, I assume?"

"Yes."

"Did you find them?" Kurama asked, the slightest glint of hope in his eyes.

"No."

Kurama looked back out at the valley, his eyes tightened with concern. Hiei was suppressing his emotions more than usual and he could only assume this was his friend's attempt at handling the immense amount of grief he was currently experiencing.

"It's not surprising, really. The killer was in and out without so much as a trace, according to what I heard."

A mix between a growl and a sigh escaped Hiei's lips as he closed his eyes. He obviously didn't wish to go into detail about the recent tragedy currently weighing on his mind.

They were silent for another moment before Kurama continued. "Is there a reason for your visit tonight?"

Hiei replied by reaching inside his coat. He pulled out a dagger and presented it to Kurama, blade shining in the moonlight.

"This is the weapon the killer used. What can you tell me about it?"

Kurama carefully took the dagger from his hand and looked it over. The blade was made of steel, sharp, and well balanced. The black stone handle had thin, gold stripes running along it and a long, black ribbon flowed from the bottom of the hilt. There was something engraved along the side of the blade as well. Some unfamiliar writing. Unfamiliar even to the old fox demon, causing him to arch a brow as he attempted to read it.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't. The blade is common enough, but I've never seen markings quite like this before." Kurama said as he handed the dagger back to Hiei.

Hiei gave the blade a once over before tucking it back in his coat, a look of disgust twisting his facile features. "Yes, it seems no one knows anything about them," he said, venom practically dripping from his words as he spoke. "An old man told me it was an ancient text from an extinct race of demon. That's all the information I've found on the damned thing."

Kurama hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "There are lots of races that are said to be extinct, though very few of them had their own language."

Hiei looked over at Kurama, now intrigued. "And which were they?"

"Well, I don't know them right off hand." Kurama began, earning an irritable scoff from Hiei. "However, Spirit World should have records of them. If you'd like, I could go there tomorrow and look them up."

Hiei looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. He then gave Kurama a level look. "Don't tell anyone that you saw me here tonight. I don't want any of them," he nodded back toward the direction of Genkai's house, "asking questions and getting into my business." Both his tone and expression darkened as he continued. "Plus, I don't want my prey to know they're being hunted."

Kurama nodded, mouth set in a firm line. "I won't tell a soul. You have my word."

"Good." He slipped his hands into his pockets, satisfied with his friend's answer. "I'll be back tomorrow night to see what you've found," Hiei said before turning to walk away.

"Hiei."

The fire demon stopped at the sound of his name and looked over his shoulder at the fox demon.

"What do you plan to do once you've found them?"

Hiei's eyes momentarily glowed red before he turned his head to look forward again. "Heh. Kill them of course." He continued to walk away.

"Of course," Kurama said quietly to himself before turning to head back to Genkai's house.

Once off Genkai's massive property, Hiei found a tree with a hollowed-out place in the trunk high up and hid the dagger inside it. He put his back up against the small hollow and settled in, making himself comfortable on the broad branch. Shortly after he closed his eyes and started to doze off, he heard something zipping through the air. Before he could locate the source of the noise, a sudden sharp pain pierced the side of his neck. His hand quickly reached for the spot and pulled out a feathered dart. Demon energy made itself known then and Hiei jumped down from the tree, dropping the dart and taking on a defensive stance.

Wrapping a hand around his sword's hilt, Hiei scanned the area for his attacker. The snap of a twig breaking announced his opponent's approach, prompting him to draw his sword from its sheath.

It was then that he suddenly started to feel dizzy. He placed a hand on a tree to steady himself, feeling more disoriented with every second. His vision started to blur as the world began to spin. By the time the opposing demon stepped into view he was unable to see their face.

"What did you do to me?" Hiei hissed as his body struggled more and more to stay up.

The sound of a sword being drawn was the only response the demon gave him. He tried to move, but only managed to stagger backward a little as his body refused to obey. The demon advanced on him quickly, thrusting a large sword into his stomach and pulling it out just as quickly. Weak from the worsening effects of the dart, the attack easily brought the fire demon to his knees. One hand went to his stomach while the other kept him from face planting the ground. He stared down at his blood-soaked hand, the image of it a swirling blur. His vision quickly darkened and he blacked out before his head could hit the ground.

Hiei woke to the sound of echoing footsteps as if someone were walking through a cave. He could feel that he was being dragged by his arms. His heavy eyes opened to see a concrete floor moving under him, the site causing him to feel dizzy. Keeping his eyes open was a struggle and his body felt too weak to resist whoever had ahold of him. Barley holding on to consciousness, he managed to lift his head to see where he was being taken. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out a tall, man-shaped figure walking in front of him. The man was obviously leading the two who were dragging him. They stopped and the blurred silhouette pulled something from his side. A handgun based on the way he was holding it. The figure pointed it at what looked like a prison cell.

"I don't think I need to remind you what kind of bullets are in this gun, kitten. Now be a good girl and stay there while we bring in your new cellmate," the tall figure said with a loud, guttural voice. The sound caused Hiei's head to start pounding. He sounded like he was far away even though he wasn't. Everything sounded like it was far away.

Whomever the man was pointing the gun at must have obeyed because he then pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, keeping the gun pointed at the cell as he did. He opened the door and the two holding Hiei dragged him in and dropped him, causing him to groan in pain. He heard the door close and lock behind him. Vision still blurry, he watched a pair of black leather boots walk toward him and stop a couple of feet away. A composed, feminine voice spoke then.

"He's going to need medical attention or he's going to die," the woman said firmly.

Hiei heard something slide across the floor and watched as a white medical kit was stopped by one of the black boots.

"Well then," another gruff voice said mockingly, "I suggest you fix him up. That is unless you want his corpse stinking up your cell."

The men broke out into laughter and their footsteps echoed as they walked away.

"Bastards," the woman growled.

Hiei watched as the booted feet took another step toward him and their wearer knelt down next to him. A groan escaped him as the woman carefully rolled him over to his back. He squinted up at her, the light shining from the ceiling above hurting his eyes. To his displeasure, his vision was still severely compromised, making it impossible to make out the woman's facial features.

The mystery woman brought her hand to his face and forced one of his eyes to open fully. She leaned in closer to get a better look at his eye, allowing him to see the shade of her own. Violet. He didn't know anyone with violet eyes, did he? She took her hand from his face and sighed.

"I take it they drugged you too," she said as she pressed two fingers to the side of his windpipe under his jaw, feeling for a pulse.

"I think so," Hiei ground out weakly, his words slurred. He started to remember the dart, but the memory was fleeting as he became distracted by the woman's next move.

Without warning, she lightly dabbed her finger in the blood seeping from his punctured stomach and brought it to her mouth. Before Hiei could ask what she was doing and why she turned to the medical kit and opened it.

"Whatever they drugged you with is poisoning you. You'll likely die if something isn't done," she said as she went through the contents of the med kit, her tone adopting the brusqueness of a blunt doctor. "I'm going to have to give you some of my blood. The poison they used is plant-based, so my blood will neutralize it and serve as an antidote. I'm naturally immune to most poisons and can temporarily pass that immunity to another," she quickly explained.

Hiei watched as she pulled out the biggest syringe she could find in the kit and started to draw blood from her arm. "Normally I would just have you drink it, but I don't know how long ago they drugged you. Injecting it straight into your bloodstream will let it get to work immediately." She pulled the syringe from her arm and pulled his left arm on to her lap, causing the fire demon's nose to wrinkle in discomfort. "I'm going to assume that you don't have any objections. Not that you could fight back at the moment anyway," she said as she injected the blood into his arm.

Putting the syringe aside, she moved her attention to his stomach. "What kind of a coward stabs someone and poisons them?" she muttered, lip curling in disgust as she dug through the med kit.

Hiei's vision started to clear and for the first time since waking, he was able to focus. The woman pulled a washcloth and a bottle of water from the kit and turned back to look at him. She stopped when she looked at his eyes.

"Well, well, looks like your body is taking to my blood quite nicely. Your vision is already clearing up."

She slid an arm under his shoulders and slowly sat him up, causing him to groan in pain and give a weak attempt at pushing her away. Her free hand grabbed his wrist as she frowned at him.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I need to get this off you if I'm going to patch up that wound." She quickly and carefully pulled his blood-stained shirt off before he could put up any more resistance.

Hiei had started imagining what it would be like to throw this woman across the cell for disrobing him so forcefully, but that thought was derailed by the sudden realization that his coat and sword were missing. He attempted to growl, but his dry throat prevented any audible sound from coming out. All he could think about then was how incredibly parched he was. The demon's thoughts were a jumbled, inconsistent mess. His vision may have cleared up, but his brain was still working to do the same.

The woman slowly lowered him back down and examined the injury. She placed a dimly glowing hand over the weeping wound, muttering an unfamiliar word. A small burst of energy shot from her palm and into the wound, causing Hiei to gasp in surprise.

"What the hell was that?!" he very nearly shouted, attempting to sit up.

"Calm down," she replied, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up, "I was just stopping the bleeding."

Hiei looked down at his stomach and sure enough, the bleeding had stopped.

"I'm glad to see you're getting some of your spunk back, but if you want to live, I'm going to need you to cooperate with me and let me dress your wound. I promise I know what I'm doing," she said sternly.

The rebellious demon's eyes met hers then and he was struck by the determination he saw in them. As he stared at her, frozen in wonder, he noticed a settle twitch in her right eye. Whether she was just becoming agitated or holding back some other emotion he couldn't tell. He got the feeling she was wearing a mask of some sort, however, and he had just witnessed the mask cracking. A small crack, but a crack nonetheless. Some clarity started returning to his mind and, oddly enough, he felt himself calm down and slowly laid back down.

 _What was that about? Why does it matter to her whether I live or die?_ He pondered to himself.

Satisfied with his compliance, the stranger went to work on gently cleaning the wound with the cloth and water, careful not to cause him any more pain than necessary. Hiei took this chance to study her. She appeared to be about his height. Long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders and back, framing an elegant face. Her sun-kissed skin was refined and her strange eyes remained calm and focused as she worked, seemingly oblivious to his attention. She was dressed in all black, her clothes the same as what he typically saw humans wear. A tank top, black boot cut jeans, and the leather combat boots he'd already seen earlier. He could tell she was a demon, though he couldn't figure out what kind she was.

"Who are you?" Hiei asked

She glanced over at him momentarily before answering. "Most know me as Shadow."

"Shadow?"

"Yeah. Retrieval Specialist for hire. I'll give you my business card later," she said nonchalantly.

Hiei thought the name sounded vaguely familiar but didn't bother trying to remember where he'd heard it. Instead, he decided to ask her another question. "Okay, _Shadow_ , why are you helping me?"

"You heard what the idiot triplets said. You may not be opposed to dying but I'd rather not be stuck in this confined space with your corpse." She answered coldly.

Shadow then put the cloth to the side and pulled out a curved medical needle, quickly getting to work on unraveling the thread attached to it. She looked over at him once she'd completed the small task.

"There aren't any painkillers in this kit. Think you'll be able to handle it long enough for me to stitch this up?"

"Heh, I'll be fine," he replied, trying for his normal callousness yet inwardly cringing at how weak he sounded.

Shadow smirked at his answer. "Well, at least you're not a coward." Her grin instantly disappeared when she turned her attention back to his wound.

Hiei clenched his jaw as she worked on stitching him up, but made no other indications of pain. When she was done, she pulled a roll of gauze from the kit. "Think you can hold yourself up while I wrap this up?"

"Yeah," Hiei grunted as he started trying to sit up.

Shadow quickly slid her arm under his shoulders. "Easy now. If you re-open that wound I'm not going to be able to stitch it again," she chided, gently guiding him into a sitting position.

She brought his arm over her shoulders so he could use her to hold himself up. He sighed irritably at this, annoyed by this own weakened state and mentally kicking himself for allowing himself to be put in a situation where he needed to rely on a stranger's help.

The demoness's eyes glance over at the sound of his sigh, momentarily giving him a sympathetic look. She quickly wrapped the bandage around his abdomen and reached for the med kit again. She grabbed another bottle of water, opened it, and handed it to him.

"You should drink this. You're dehydrated."

He grunted a refusal, earning a piercing glare from her. "Keep trying to be stubborn and I'm going to lose my patience."

Hiei glared back at her, an image of him lighting her on fire playing in his mind. His mouth chose then to betray him by reminding him of how uncomfortably parched it was, prompting him to take the water bottle from her. With a shaky hand, he put the water bottle to his lips and drank, his dry mouth and throat feeling instant relief. Shadow waited for him to finish drinking before taking the empty water bottle and setting it aside.

"Kay then, now let's get you to one of the bunks so you can rest."

She helped him stand, earning another pained groan from him and started to walk him to the closest bunk bed in the cell.

"Where are we?" Hiei asked after taking a quick look around.

"I'll answer any questions you have once I'm sure you're stable. As of right now, you're dead on your feet and in serious need of some rest."

Despite the trouble he was having standing on his own two feet, she managed to get him over to the bunk with relative ease. Her petite body was obviously stronger than it appeared. Once he was seated she stepped back and gave him a once over, watching as he started swaying ever so slightly once left to sit on his own.

"How do you feel?"

Hiei stared up at her, not wanting to think about how hard it was to keep his eyes open, to focus on her face. Each sound pounded against his head like a drum. Despite all the questions roaming around in his head, he found he no longer wanted to think about anything. "Tired," was all he managed to say in response before his eyes finally shut, passing out while still sitting up.

Shadow caught him before he could fall off the bunk and carefully laid him down. She pulled a cover over him before going to pick up the medical kit. She placed the kit under his bunk and walked over to sit on the only other bunk in the cell.

Sitting on the thin, dingy mattress she took a moment to study Hiei, trying to place his face. He looked familiar, but she just couldn't quite remember where she had seen him before. Feeling tired herself she shrugged and sighed an, "Oh well," as she laid down. She rolled to her side so she was facing Hiei in the other bunk.

 _I wonder if he knows why he's here,_ she thought as she gave him one last look over before allowing her eyes to rest.

 ***AN*** Hey all, sorry for any weird notifications you may get about this story. I've spent the last few months rewriting this story and am now going to be replacing the old version of this story with the new version I've been working on. The base story plot is going to stay the same, but there were some things in the story that I felt could be better. So, I've put more thought and effort into this story than before and cleaned it up a bit. For example, I took some time to better build my OC's character (known in this chapter as Shadow). I felt I was starting to make her a bit overpowered, so she has more limits now. I've also put the saying, "show, don't tell" into better practice with the rewrite in hopes of painting a better picture. (Shout out to roeseyes for all her awesome help and advice! She's helped me out a lot. She also writes YYH fanfiction here on FFn, so go check out her work sometime! ^.^) Sorry for any inconvenience this update might cause any of you, but hopefully it's worth it. Feel free to follow me on Twitter ( noxchyc) or Tumblr (noxchyc) for story updates.^.^


	2. Suspicion

*AN* Real quick, for those following this story, if you're confused as to why you're getting an update for Chapter 2, please read the author note at the end of the previous chapter.

Hiei woke to the sound of laughter. He opened his eyes and first saw the stone ceiling of the prison cell. Then he heard the sound of departing footsteps and looked over to the other side of the cell. Shadow was sitting on a bunk with her eyes closed and arms folded over her chest, a look of annoyance painted on her face. The sight of her quickly brought back the memories of his arrival to this dreary place.

The fire demon sat up, ignoring the pain in his stomach and threw the cover off. He swung his legs around and placed his feet on the ground, immediately noticing how easy it was to move. Other than the pain caused by his wound, his body felt like it was almost back to normal.

He glanced once again at Shadow, noting how still she was. She'd yet to shift or make any indication that she was aware of his wakefulness. Her eyes remained closed, forehead wrinkled in a scowl, arms and legs crossed. If not for the settle rising and falling of her chest she could have easily been mistaken for a statue. If her goal was to block out the outside world, she appeared to be succeeding.

"What the hell was that all about?" Hiei asked.

Shadow opened her eyes, her focus immediately on him. "That was the idiot triplets stopping by to pay us a visit and give me my daily taunting because they're too stupid to find something constructive to do with their time. Be glad you were unconscious for it." She spat, annoyance thick on her tongue. She closed her eyes long enough to take a deep breath; calm reigning once again as she continued. "Good afternoon, by the way. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, other than the hole in my stomach."

Shadow stood, closing the short distance between them. She bent down so she was face to face with him and studied his eyes, causing him to wrinkle his nose and lean away. Her hand came up as if to feel his forehead, but flinched away just before making contact, gently pressing the backs of her fingers against his cheek instead. Hiei noted her reaction to nearly touching his forehead, but his curiosity didn't stop him from glaring at her, displeased by her touch.

She straightened back up and folded her arms, brow furrowed. "Your temperature is definitely lower, but you still feel rather warm. Do you normally run a bit hot?"

"How should I know?" He bit in reply, his glare unwavering.

She shrugged, unfazed by his murderous stare. "Well, aside from your hotheadedness, you're not acting feverous so let's just assume you're naturally warmer." She tilter head to the side, looking over him curiously. "Let me see if you can stand."

Hiei stood, his hand going to his stomach once his weight left the bunk. Standing had caused him some pain, but it hadn't been enough to stop him from completing the action smoothly. Once standing at his full height he noticed how he could see just over the top of the demoness's head, making him a half a head taller than her.

Shadow nodded with satisfaction and stepped aside.

"Now if you would walk to the other side of the room and back," she ordered with the air of a physician.

Hiei did as she asked. Shadow watched him carefully, waiting for him to finish before continuing. "Ok, now raise your right arm please."

"Is there a reason for all this?" Hiei asked, unable to keep the bite from his voice.

"I'm checking your motor skills, so if you would just humor me for a moment." She said, retaining her calm but authoritative tone.

Hiei hesitated for a moment before raising his arm. Shadow watched his arm muscles for spasms or anything else out of the ordinary as he completed her request.

"Left arm please," she said, motioning for him to let down his right arm and raise his other arm.

She watched his arm rise and motioned for him to let it down once she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Simply raising his arms didn't hurt, but Hiei was quickly finding this whole process to be rather tedious.

She then held a hand before his face, her index finger pointed up. While petite like the rest of her, her hand was steady as a rock; reflecting both her confidence in her examination of him as well as her complete lack of fear of his threatening glare.

"Now follow my hand with just your eyes," she ordered, her entire arm moving as she gently swung her hand from side to side and then up and down.

Her eyes never left his, noting how fluidly they followed their target.

"Ok, looks like the poison's out of your system," she said, putting her hand down. She looked him up and down, her eyes resting on the center of his chest before raising an eyebrow.

Hiei folded his arms over his chest in response to her scrutinizing gaze. "What?" he bit out.

She shook her head. "Nothing," her gaze turned up to meet his, "Just trying to make sense of everything."

He grunted at her answer, giving her a glance over in return as if to size her up. "If you're done with your little examination, I have some questions I want answered."

Shadow folded her arms in turn, crossing her ankles as she leaned against the bars of their cell. "Shoot."

"First of all, where the hell am I and how long have I been here?"

"We're in a dungeon of some sort." She glanced at something across the cell momentarily before continuing. "As for where we are exactly, I wish I knew. I'm also unsure as to how long you've been here, but they brought you to me roughly ten hours ago."

Hiei's eyes widened and his shoulders dropped upon hearing the new information. "Ten hours!"

"Yeah, that poison nearly killed you. It took you a while to sleep it off."

He turned his head to look across the cell where he'd seen Shadow glance just a moment ago, finding a small, barred window at the very top of the stone wall. He walked up to the window until he was close enough to get a good view of the sky. The dimly lit, red sky he saw through the window immediately told him two things: one, he was in Demon World, and two, it was now dusk. Assuming he hadn't lost a full day, his meeting with Kurama was due to happen in just a few hours. His brow furrowed in thought, wondering what the fox would do when he didn't show up.

He swung his attention back to the mysterious demon waiting patiently across the cell.

"So why are we here?"

Shadow shrugged a shoulder. "I've been asking them that myself. The only answer I've been able to get out of them is that their boss has special plans for me and wants me where he can easily find me. As for you, I can't say, but feel free to ask them next time they come around." She stood up off the bars, one hand going to her hip while the other relaxed at her side. "If you have any more questions feel free to ask but if you don't mind, I'd like to work on healing that wound of yours."

Hiei nodded, fully willing to take advantage of the opportunity to rid himself of his irksome injury. "That's fine."

Shadow gestured toward the bunk. "Have a seat."

Hiei sat on the bunk and Shadow took a seat next to him. She grabbed the pillow, propping it up against the wall behind him. "Lean back, if you would."

He did and she positioned herself so she sat facing him, legs crossed. She placed both hands lightly on his bandaged stomach, her palms emitting a soft, blue glow the moment they made contact.

Hiei felt as if cool water was running over his entire abdomen, washing away all the pain from his body. Against all instinct his body relaxed, allowing a calm focus to reclaim his mind. He closed his eyes, trying to remember what else it was he wanted to ask her.

"So, why are you helping me?"

"You don't remember?" she answered, stealing a glance.

He opened his eyes to focus on her. "I remember what you told me before, yes. Something about being stuck in here with my corpse. But you said yourself that I'd recovered from the poison and I'm sure this wound isn't enough to kill me. And now that I'm no longer knocking on death's door, you're still helping me. Why?"

"Ok, good point," she sighed. "Perhaps I'm bored and have nothing better to do at the moment." Her brow rose slightly before continuing. "Or... perhaps I'm hoping that once I get you completely healed, you'll help me find a way out of this godforsaken place. I'm not a big fan of being caged."

Hiei nodded, grunting in agreement. He turned his gaze up to the ceiling, another question popping into his mind. "So, what method did they use to bring you here?"

"You remember me saying I'm a retrieval specialist, right?"

"Yes."

"Well about 16 days ago, I went to meet with who I thought was a new client. Instead, I was ambushed and drugged with a dart." Her lip briefly twitched into a sneer. "When I woke up, I was here, though I was unharmed."

Hiei refocused on her. "Yes, I remember being hit by a dart right before I was attacked."

Shadow nodded. "I'm thinking they used belladonna. That's one of the few things that will knock me out like that."

Hiei arched a brow. "Belladonna?"

"Also known as deadly nightshade. It's a poisonous plant. One dose will put someone to sleep but too much is deadly." She shrugged. "Well, it's not for me, but it is for just about everyone else." Her gaze shifted from her hands to him. "I'm betting they gave you too much. An amateur mistake since they obviously want you alive." She refocused on her hands. "Though I'm not sure why they would feel the need to stab you as well."

Suddenly, the soft glow emitting from Shadow's hands faded away, the sensation of cool, flowing water stopped. She growled in frustration as she pulled her hands away and glared down at them. "Damn it! Something's keeping me from using my full power." She balled her hands into fists. "They did something to me before locking me in here and now my energy level is that of a D class. Hell, lower than that!"

Hiei took only a second to think about what she said before sitting up, extending his left arm out in front of him. He opened his hand palm up and tried to call the mortal flam. Shadow watched in silence with an arched brow. It wasn't as easy as usual, but with a little concentration, a small flame crackled to life in his palm. He closed his fist to extinguish the flam before going to unwrap the bandages from his right arm.

He gasped, eyes widening at what he saw, or rather at what he didn't see.

His dragon was gone.

"I take it you're having the same problem..." Shadow said, voice trailing away as she noticed something peeking out from under Hiei's hair on the back of his neck. "Hold still," she commanded as she swiftly moved behind him to get a better look.

"What is it?"

She pushed his hair up to reveal a crimson mark. Her mouth slightly gaped in astonishment.

"It's an energy seal, but..." she lightly traced the curvy lines with her fingertip, finishing the sentence in her head. ... _but this seal was used by the Raksha Shamans in my tribe as a punishment. Why... no, HOW could this be possible?_

"But what?" Hiei asked impatiently.

"But it wasn't done right." She answered quickly after pulling her hands away, mentally shaking herself. "This seal is supposed to completely seal all of your energy. The amateur who did this obviously didn't know what they were doing."

Shadow then moved from behind him and over to the side of the bunk. "Could you do me a favor and see if I have a mark at the base of my neck?"

Hiei nodded. Shadow turned her back to him and swept her hair aside. Sure enough, there was a mark on the base of her neck, the site of it causing Hiei's eyes to widen. The mark looked very much like the ones on the dagger he had shown Kurama.

"Yes, there's a blood red marking there." He said, managing to make his voice sound calmer than he felt.

Shadow turned back around, letting out a heavy sigh. "Normally I would have the power to remove it, but with my energy sealed I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." She ran a hand over her face and through her hair, suddenly feeling drained.

A thought came to Hiei's mind. _No one else seems to know anything about those markings, and yet she could read this one. I wonder..._

"I've seen markings like that before. I was told the demons who used them were extinct."

Shadow's gaze darted over to him. "Oh really?" she questioned, feigning ignorance.

 _Is that suspicion I sense?_ She thought to herself as she picked up on the sudden change in his demeanor.

"Yes. So how is it you were able to read it just now?" he asked, his eyes boring into hers, searching them.

She shrugged, eyes shifting over to the floor. "I didn't read it. I just know a seal when I see one."

 _That was a lie,_ Hiei thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. _She's hiding something._

Shadow's gaze shifted to the fire demon's bandaged stomach. "How's your wound?"

"Better."

She nodded and stood. After making her way over to the other bunk she laid down and folded her arms behind her head, staring sleepily at the ceiling. "Sorry, but I've spent a lot of energy tending to you and now need some rest. Wake me if I'm needed." With that, she closed her eyes.

Hiei decided to let her be, for now anyway. He stood and walked over to the barred door, grasping the bars as he attempted to look down the hall. Despite his efforts, all he could see were stone walls and a couple of empty cells. He sighed internally and rested his forehead against the cool, metal bars, closing his eyes. If only he could slip through them and walk right out.

 _I wonder..._ Hiei thought as an idea came to him. He lifted his head from the bars, his hand reaching up to push his headband up off his Jagan eye. The eye opened and began to glow as Hiei focused on using it to look further down the hall than his own eyes could see. He was pleasantly surprised to see he could still use the Jagan's remote viewing ability.

Down the hallway was a heavy looking metal door. Beyond that was a stairwell that looked to have three flights of stairs. He decided to try looking beyond the door to the next floor up, finding an empty hallway. He caught a glimpse of someone passing by at the end of the hallway, but shortly after he started following them, his far-reaching sight suddenly faded away.

Hiei cursed under his breath, opening his eyes to look once again at the dreary dungeon holding them captive. He pulled his headband down to conceal his Jagan once more. _Must be the damn energy seal,_ he thought bitterly.

Frustrated, he went back to the empty bunk and plopped down on it. He looked over at Shadow to see she was now staring up at the ceiling again, seemingly oblivious to what he had just been doing. She looked as if she were miles away in deep thought. He quirked a brow, focusing his Jagan on a new task. If he could still use it to see, it wasn't too far of a stretch to believe it could still listen in on someone's thoughts. Especially those of someone distracted and in a weakened state.

His eyes narrowed when his Jagan found nothing but a mental block. Despite how distracted she appeared, her guard was still up, and for one reason or another, she obviously felt the need to guard her thoughts. Whether that was because of him or not he couldn't say, but he couldn't help but suspect that she was already aware of his Jagan and its abilities. Her avoiding his forehead earlier when examining him had been his first clue.

Only when she glanced his way did Hiei realize he was still staring at her. He quickly looked away.

"You know," Shadow said thoughtfully, "I've just realized that I don't know your name."

Hiei brought his gaze back to her, his expression deadpanned. "You never asked."

"Hm. Indeed, I didn't." She sat up and leaned her back against the wall, her eyes meeting his. "So, what is your name?"

"Hiei."

"Just Hiei? No last name or title?"

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "No."

"Really?" She tilted her head to the side. "I would have figured that you at least had a title."

"Heh." Hiei's tone was mocking as he spoke. "What, like Shadow the Retrieval Specialist?"

Shadow smirked and let out a short laugh. "No, I was thinking more like Jaganshi."

Hiei's eyes narrowed, body tensing up. "And what would make you think that?"

Shadow touched the middle of her forehead with her index finger. "The Jagan you have hidden under that headband, of course."

"Heh." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So, you already knew about it."

Shadow shrugged a shoulder. "Couldn't help but notice. I felt foreign energy when I was healing you. It's an implant, isn't it?"

Hiei clenched his jaw. "You knew about it before you healed me." His annoyance was clear in his voice as he glared at her.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Was it something I said?"

His glare deepened. "Don't toy with me."

Shadow's expression changed as she dropped the innocent act. She continued to look at him, her gaze thoughtful.

 _Not many people can tell when I lie. Hell, only one person can do that and she's known me all her life. I wonder how he was able to... Either way looks like I'm going to have to go for the honest route to get on his good side._

Shadow couldn't help but smirk again, making sure to look him in the eye when she spoke to him. "Okay, I'll be straight with you, Hiei."

"Hmm?"

"Well, I am going to need you to trust me if we're going to break out of this joint." She said simply, shrugging.

Hiei's glare shifted to a more suspicious look, but he waited to hear where she was going with this.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know," she continued. "This is a free, one-time offer that nobody gets." She flashed him a cocky grin. "So, I do hope you feel special."

Hiei studied her carefully, pushing images of Yusuke's own cocky grin from his mind. _She's telling the truth, for now anyway_ , he thought as he found no signs of dishonesty. He leaned forward, looking at her intently.

"Well, for starters, what kind of a name is Shadow?"


	3. Truths Revealed

Kurama sat under a tree in the same place he had talked with Hiei the night before. He gazed out at the valley before him while subconsciously tapping his index finger on a short stack of three manila file folders lying under his hand on the ground next to him. His other hand rested atop his knee, allowing him to steal a glance at his watch every so often; an action he found himself doing more and more the longer he waited. The last glance he stole caused his eyes to tighten with concern. It was now about 45 minutes past the time they had met the night before.

 _I wonder what's keeping Hiei. I was positive he would be here well before me, eager for any information I had._

The fox's eyes shifted to the files laying under his hand. In the top one was information about a race of demons called the Raksha. While searching through files of extinct and endangered races of demons in Spirit World, he had come across a race that used the same writing he'd seen on the dagger Hiei had shown him. These demons had been labeled as endangered and as far as Spirit World knew, there were only two left.

Kurama scooped up the file laying on top of the stack and started thumbing through it. Skipping past the lengthy origin story of the Raksha, which was written much like an encyclopedia topic, he went straight to the parts that he thought would be of the most interest to his troubled friend; a copy of their alphabet as well as an article describing the downfall of the once prosperous tribe. It was said that the Raksha Tribe was attacked and destroyed roughly nine years ago by a band of greedy demons known as the Honnari Kodomo. The article was vague on the how and why of the Honnari Kodomo's attack, but it did tell of the two survivors, allowing Kurama to track down what information Spirit World had on them.

Placing the file aside, Kurama picked up the other two files and flipped through them as well. His brow furrowed at all the blacked-out information he found in the articles, raising questions as to why Spirit World felt the need to keep so much about these two demons a secret. The only way to learn that, however, was to ask Koenma himself. That was of course out of the question. No way Hiei would want to get the Spirit World ruler involved.

However, despite most of the information being confidential, Kurama had managed to learn some useful facts about the survivors.

They were sisters and they both currently resided in Human World. The younger sister, Mizuke, was a mere child when her tribe was destroyed. Sometime after escaping from Demon World, she attended classes at a couple of private schools not far from where most of the gang had attended school. She seemed to lead a rather normal, uneventful life. Kurama couldn't help but wonder if she had ever crossed any of their paths before. He personally didn't recognize her, but perhaps Keiko or Kuwabara would. Either way, he didn't think she would be of much interest to Hiei.

The older sister, on the other hand, would definitely grab Hiei's attention. Her file had the most blacked-out information, but what remained would without a doubt be enough to drive Kurama's vengeful friend to track down and interrogate her.

Her name was Sora and she was more than a decade older than her sister, making her a young adult during the tribe's downfall. Having been trained in both the ways of the shaman and warrior, she had been a part of the fight against the Honnari Kodomo and was even held prisoner for some time after losing the fight. It was unclear as to why the Honnari Kodomo decided to keep her alive, but she managed to escape a couple of years later and was reunited with her sister in Human World there shortly after.

She was now a self-proclaimed "private retrieval specialist". Apparently, this meant she would go out and recover whatever a person wanted for a price. Precious artifacts, information, people, demons. You named it and she would retrieve it, provided that it was something that interested her enough. Most of her clients were unknown, but there had been reports of her doing jobs for the Black Black Club as well as for one of the three Demon Kings. Which members and which king was blacked out, however.

Kurama sighed as he closed the folder and restacked the files. Yes, he was sure Hiei would want to find and question the demon, Sora, as she was the most likely to be connected to the dagger, but was that such a good idea in his current state? Kurama was all too aware of the effects of grief and vengeance, and Hiei wasn't exactly known for his ability to handle his emotions in a healthy manner.

 _I must admit this does worry me,_ Kurama thought to himself as his gaze returned to the valley before him. _I'm not sure how Hiei would fair going up against someone like her in his current state of mind. If she is the killer, she certainly has the skill set to throw him for a loop, so to say._

He tilted his head back to rest against the tree behind him, looking upward through the branched to the night sky. _He would never admit it, but this recent tragedy has jolted him more than he lets on. His judgment is clouded by his grief and desire for revenge. I fear what might become of him at this rate._

Kurama looked down at his watch, brow furrowing at the time. _It's unlike Hiei to be late for a meeting he arranged himself. Where on earth is he?_

His eyes shifted back to the file next to him. _It's likely this Sora character is involved in this, but how? Is she the killer? If that is the case, could she have learned that Hiei is seeking her out?_

His hands clenched into fists thinking of all the possibilities. Unable to wait any longer he stood up, hastily picking up the manila file folders as he did. He quickly glanced around one last time, looking for any sign that Hiei was on his way. After finding nothing, he started making his way back to Genkai's house, his mind working overtime to remain calm.

 _I'll gather some supplies and leave a note for the others so as to not worry them. Then I'll head out and find him. Surely he's just found himself caught up with another lead or something,_ he told himself calmly.

Despite his attempt to calmly make a plan and reason with himself as he ventured through the woods, he couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency in every step he took _._ His pace quickened even more when a more troubling thought crept its way in.

 _Hopefully, the hunter didn't become the prey._

"Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up."

A young woman chanted into a cell phone eagerly as she sat cross-legged in the middle of a large bed adorned in multiple shades of blue.

The phone stopped ringing, prompting the girl to groan irritably and snap the phone shut before it could go to voice mail. She fell backward into a neat pile of pillows, dove-white hair fanning out around her. Her violet eyes were tight with worry as she stared at the device in her hand. Her free hand ran through her hair, her subtly bronzed skin creating a rather uncommon contrast against her light locks.

 _Something's wrong. This isn't like her. She's been gone_ _for over two weeks now and hasn't called to check up on me like she usually does._

The woman jumped up from the bed suddenly, moving swiftly to a nearby closet. She located a large satchel and started packing. She grabbed a change of clothes and hastily threw them into the bag. As she went to leave the room, she snatched a recurve bow and full quiver from where they hung on a wall, slinging them over her should before exiting.

She stopped once in the hallway and stared at a closed door at the end of the hall for a moment, brow creased with thought. Taking a deep breath, she rushed through the door, muttering a quick "sorry" as she did. She entered another bedroom and headed straight for the closet, quickly grabbing another set of clothes and stuffing them into the bag.

"Just in case _,_ " she muttered to herself as she hurried out of the bedroom and headed down the hallway.

She glided down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen where she continued to pack her bag. The kitchen had two refrigerators. One silver and one black. The woman went to the silver fridge first and grabbed a few bottles of water. Next, she went to the cabinets to grab some energy bars, as well as a first aid kit stashed at the very top. After packing these items, she looked over at the second fridge. She pressed her lips together, giving the fridge a long look before shaking her head and hanging the bag over her shoulder, adjusting its weight against her hip.

 _No, it's only been two weeks. Even if she is injured, she should be fine._

With that, she left the kitchen and headed out the front door.

She darted across a porch and out onto a large yard with luscious green grass, stopping to look around. The two-story house sat in a large clearing surrounded by a forest of many types of trees, including maple and cedar. Only the sounds of nature met her ears as she looked about, her index finger tapping her lips as she took a moment to think.

"Which way?" she murmured.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a lapis lazuli, carved and polished into the shape of a worry stone. Squeezing her hand around the stone, she closed her eyes and uttered a few words in an unfamiliar language. The stone began to heat up in her hand, prompting her to open her eyes and uncurl her fingers to allow the awakened energy in the stone to be released.

A soft white glowing orb emerged from the stone and gently floated to the ground before the young woman. There it grew and changed shape until it took the form of a fox. Its thick coat was as white as snow with brilliant blue tribal markings painted across its face and along its back. It looked up at her with shimmering eyes that matched the color of the lapis lazuli stone perfectly.

The young woman knelt down before the strange fox, cupping its face in her hand.

"Hello, old friend. I need your help."

"Well, for starters, what kind of a name is Shadow?" Hiei asked, watching the demon sitting across the cell from him carefully.

Now that Shadow had said she would be more honest and answer any questions he had, it was time for Hiei to put it to the test and see what he could learn from the mysterious demon.

Shadow let out a small sigh before readjusting her position on the uncomfortable bunk, preparing herself for what she was sure to be a long line of questioning. After crossing her legs and resting her back against the wall, she returned her focus to the hot-headed demon before her.

"It's not my real name, it's an alias. My real name is..." she drummed her fingers on her knee once, reluctant to give away her true name, but knowing she had to in order to move things along. "Sora. Sora Yamagata."

Hiei quirked a brow, continuing to watch her carefully. "So, _Sora_ , how did you _really_ know about my Jagan?"

Sora met his gaze, willing him to hear the truth in her words. "While you were sleeping, I got up to check on you and found the poison was struggling to work its way out of your body. You were burning up so I took your headband off to perform a healing spell to bring down your fever and bam! There it was."

"Hmm." _Seeing no signs of dishonesty, he continued on to the next question on his mind_.

"Now," his eyes narrowed, "about the energy seal. How did you _actually_ know what it was? And don't try lying about it this time. I won't be as _lenient_ about it as before." His voice was threatening yet almost calm sounding when he spoke, almost like an angry mafia boss who wanted to remain professional and low key threaten you at the same time.

She grimaced at his question. _Damn, why couldn't I have said I'd answer ALMOST any question he had? I do wonder why he's so obsessed with the Raksha writing. Perhaps he'll tell me once I explain._

Sora crossed her arms, giving her interrogator a quick once over before locking eyes with him again. "Very well, Hiei, I'll tell you. And once I have then maybe you can tell _me_ why you're so interested in the damned thing." She paused for a moment and watched as the threatening look on Hiei's face soften, a single eyebrow arching with interest.

"Any proper shaman or chi master would be able to figure out that mark is a seal once they read the energy." She uncrossed her arms, resting her hands on her knees. "I am, in fact, a fully trained shaman, and so normally that would be the explanation that I would give. However, you, unfortunately, noticed that I knew what it was on sight. That marking was made using the Raksha language."

Hiei's brow furrowed at the unfamiliar word. "Raksha?"

Sora nodded before continuing. "The mark on both of us says _sayodo_ , which means sealed. That seal is, of course, used by Raksha demons, but only a Raksha Shaman can use it fully. Seeing how I can still heal and you can summon flames, whoever placed these seals on us wasn't a shaman."

"Can any demon use that seal or just these Raksha demons?" Hiei asked.

Sora's hand went up to her chin, thumb tapping her lips as she looked upward. "Maybe. If they are experienced with sealing spells and know the language, then I don't see why not." Her hand dropped back to her lap as she refocused on Hiei. "It's extremely unlikely though."

Hiei let out a thoughtful hmm but said nothing, his eyes glancing off to the side.

"If it wasn't for my own spirit energy being sealed, I would be able to remove your seal easily." Sora continued, regaining Hiei's attention. "But in order to remove that particular seal, you have to be just as or more powerful than the person who created it. Trying to remove such a seal without the necessary amount of spirit energy would have dire consequences. It could even result in death."

Hiei crossed his arms. "So, considering your intimate knowledge of the Raksha language, does that make you one?"

The demoness frowned and looked away. "Yes."

The fire demon quirked a brow. "I was told that the demons who used that writing were extinct."

Sora's focus snapped back to Hiei, eyes glowing red for a moment before fading back to their normal color. Her voice sounded clipped and bitter when she spoke again, reflecting the anger that was now showing in her narrowed eyes and clenched fists.

"Yes, that _is_ what most people think. The reason being that the entire tribe was massacred by the Honnari Kodomo about nine years ago."

Hiei's brow rose at the new information. "The band of greedy demon assassins." He crossed his arms. "I've heard stories about them. If the stories are true, they're quite a force to be reckoned with."

Sora took a deep breath and nodded, her tone calmer but not completely losing its bitter edge. "Yeah, _those_ bastards. We had an agreement with them. Don't pose a threat to us and we would trade with them. Things like weapons and medicine."

She took another calming breath before continuing, unclenching her fists and crossing her arms. "They mounted a surprise attack out of nowhere. To this day I don't know what prompted them to turn on us so suddenly, or how they learned to hit us so hard."

Her shoulders, as well as her expression, dropped with her next words. "Once I realized the battle was lost, I tried gathering some of the survivors to lead them to safety, but I was only able to escape with one." She looked as though she were miles away as the memory replayed in her mind, eyes now focused on the floor between them.

Hiei shifted uncomfortably, gripping the edge of the dingy mattress he sat upon, turning his gaze over to the only window in the cell.

"It sounds like they got information from an inside source," he simply stated.

"Yeah, that's the most likely scenario. And it's likely they killed the traitor along with everyone else, knowing them," she replied, her voice sounding as far off as her mind currently was.

Hiei stole a glance and nodded, but said nothing. Looking at her in her current state reminded him too much of his own grief. He continued to stare out the window, giving himself a moment to allow the new information to sink in, and giving her time to collect herself.

The demoness shook her head suddenly, coming back to the present. She rolled her shoulders and tilted her head from side to side in an attempt to shake the melancholy air from herself. Once she felt more centered, Sora decided to pose her own question.

"So, would you mind telling me why you were so interested in those markings anyway? Have you seen them before or something?"

Images of the dagger flashed in Hiei's mind, causing his eyes to narrow. "Yes, I have seen them before."

"Where?" Sora asked curiously.

"On the blade of a dagger," he answered, turning his gaze back to her.

Sora's brow furrowed. "A dagger?"

"Yes."

"But... everything was destroyed," Sora said, confused. Her face was now contemplative as she looked off in deep thought, hand rubbing her chin. "Our village was burned to the ground. Our armor and weapons were melted down, our records turned to ash. The only thing that survived was a sword I had with me when I escaped. I gave it to _Una Cansi_ before pushing her through the portal..." Her voice trailed off as her mind sorted through her memories trying to remember if a dagger might have somehow survived. Like before, her thumb tapped her lips as she thought.

As Sora lost herself in thought, Hiei took the opportunity to study her. Her reaction to hearing about the dagger wasn't what he thought it would be. With her knowledge of the strange language, he'd thought she might have had something to do with the murder that currently plagued his mind. However, the more he questioned and observed her, the less likely that seemed to be. She obviously didn't recall the dagger, not to mention if she were the killer would she not have finished him off the moment he was brought to her? Surely whoever had killed her would have known of his allegiance with her.

"May I ask were you found that dagger?" Sora asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He hesitated, eyes narrowing once again with distrust before another thought came to him. _Her reaction could tell me for sure whether she had anything to do with it or not._

"I _found_ it in Mukuro's back. Someone used it to kill her," he bit out.

"WHAT!" Sora erupted and jumped to her feet. Her eyes were wide with a mix of shock and horror. "Mukuro, as in former king of Alaric Mukuro?! She's dead?!"

"Yes." He tilted back slightly at her sudden, loud outburst, feeling a sudden but gentle breeze ruffle his hair. He glanced over to the window, wondering if such a breeze could have come through the small opening just then, or...

"When did it happen? Who killed her?" Sora demanded, voice still elevated with shock.

Hiei straightened his back and crossed his arms. "It happened two weeks ago. Nobody knows who did it."

Sora sank back onto the bunk, the color draining steadily from her face. "Two days after I was captured."

"I take it you knew her."

Sora didn't seem to hear him as she stared off into space. "I wonder if they knew..."

He arched a brow. "Knew what?"

She still looked miles away as she answered him. "That Mukuro had contacted me."

"What?!" Hiei leaned forward, hands pushing against the edges of the mattress as if he wanted to jump up. "Mukuro contacted you?"

"Yes," she groaned, allowing her head to sink into her hands. She suddenly sounded exhausted, defeated, sad even.

"She sent me a spirit of words the day before I was captured." Her eyes shifted to the right as her head suddenly lifted from her hands. "No, the meeting had been set up before I received the spirit of words. I was going to meet with her after the meeting that landed me here. Perhaps they found out she was going to call me back to Demon World and captured me so I wouldn't interfere with her assassination."

She stared at nothing, wide-eyed before groaning and dropping her head back into her hands.

"What did she tell you? Why was she calling you back to Demon World?" Hiei demanded.

She raised her head from her hands to look at him, her expression blank. "Now I know where I've heard your name. You were Mukuro's second in command before that Makai Tournament went down." She tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, hands dropping to her knees. "She didn't tell you that she was in need of my assistance?"

The hot-headed demon curled an arm, clenching his hand into a fist. "If she had I wouldn't be asking you about it now," he growled, annoyance dripping from every word.

"Right," she rubbed her forehead as if trying to rid herself of a headache, "sorry."

She put her hand back down and straightened her posture. "Mukuro was in need of my special skill set for what she claimed was a sensitive, and somewhat embarrassing matter. With the next tournament coming up in just another year, she wanted me to try and help _fix_ something that was wrong with her. Apparently, she was unable to use her full power due to the fact that she no longer held as much hatred as she once did."

Hiei returned his arm to his side and looked away, the memory of Kirin talking about this same phenomenon roughly a year ago replaying in his head. He was quickly brought back to the present by the sound of Sora scoffing, refocusing on her in time to see her shaking her head.

"She claimed to have fallen in love; the last thing I ever thought I'd hear Mukuro of all people say." She shrugged. "Nonetheless, she needed to figure out how to draw her power from something other than hatred and was having trouble figuring it out on her own. With my background as a shaman, she thought I could give her some insight on how to fix her little problem."

The fire demon shifted uncomfortably in his seat and crossed his arms, remaining silent.

"This problem of hers had her worried for a couple of reasons." Sora held up her index finger before continuing, counting the reasons on her hand. "One, she was concerned she wouldn't be able to win the next Maki Tournament, and two," she extended a second finger, "she had gotten a report from the Demon King himself that a few of the contestants from the last tournament had been found dead."

Her hand dropped to rest on her knee. "He was worried that she, along with the other stronger demons that fought in the tournament, would be targeted as well. Given her current condition, she wanted this assassin found before they took a shot at her."

She gave him a quick once over before continuing. "With her former second in command stuck on patrol duty, she needed someone else whom she could trust who had more freedom to look into the matter."

The demoness grimaced and looked down at her hands, frowning. "But, obviously, I never got the chance."

Hiei looked as if he had been slapped in the face. The new information left him gaping at her, his arms slowly sliding from their spot on his chest until they rested at his sides. Speechless, he bowed his head and looked away. _Mukuro..._

 _I could have protected you._

Feeling a sudden ache in her chest, Sora closed her eyes and clenched at the pained area over her heart.

"I'm very sorry, Hiei. If only I had fought harder when I was ambushed, I could have-"

"It wasn't your fault," he interrupted her, sounding annoyed, "so stop apologizing."

She glanced back up at him to see he was still looking away. Not only did he not want her pity, he really didn't need it. Something she herself empathized with all too well.

"Right. Just... I have, err, had a lot of respect for her. So..." she crossed her arms, looking away as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "if there's anything I can do, I will."

Her awkwardly worded offer was enough to prompt Hiei to steal a quick look at her, but not enough to provoke any other response.

A long moment of silence passed before Hiei wrinkled his brow, hands balling up where they rested at his sides. The gears of vengeance started turning in his mind again and an idea came to him. He had learned a good amount about his target thanks to this strange new demon. Could he use her to track down the assailant as well?

"Tell me," Hiei said, turning his gaze back to Sora, "do you have a taste for revenge?"

She glanced sideways at him. "I'm a firm believer that karma sometimes needs a helping hand, yes."

Hiei smirked. "Then perhaps you should consider helping me find the swine that murdered Mukuro." He gave her a more leveled look. "That is if you truly meant what you said a moment ago."

She turned her full attention to him, arching a brow. "I wasn't expecting you to take me up on my offer, but I certainly meant it."

Hiei crossed his arms. "Based on what you've told me, her killer is likely a member of the Honnari Kodomo gang. Your intimate knowledge of these demons could prove to be rather useful to me."

A confident grin formed on Sora's lips. "Yes, I imagine both my knowledge _and_ skill set would be rather useful to you." She jabbed a thumb at herself and rolled both shoulders back, chest jutting out with the motion. "Don't forget, I'm a retrieval specialist. That means I make a living by tracking down and retrieving things for people; valuables, information, and often times other people. I've yet to let any of my clients down and my services come at a high cost."

She relaxed her posture a bit, chest deflating. "Not that you need to worry about me charging you, seeing how this particular task is personal."

Hiei smirked at the confident demon. "Sounds good to me."

"First things first," Sora said, dropping her hands onto her knees. "We need to come up with a plan to get out of this hell hole."


	4. A Chance Meeting

It was night out now. Sora laid in her bunk gazing out the small, barred window. The moon was in just the right spot so that she could see it from where she lay. Hiei was in the other bunk across the room from her asleep. She was going over their plan of escape as she gazed at the moon.

She'd easily convinced Hiei that stealth was in their best interest since their energy was sealed and they were, without a doubt, outnumbered. They were to take out the idiot triplet guards as quietly as possible during their next visit, steal their keys, sneak out, then locate the exit, avoiding confrontation as much as possible.

All the holes in their plan were what had Sora lying awake. She hated half-baked plans, especially ones with a high chance of something going wrong. Her time spent laying there thinking only brought her one plan B, and she hated that plan too. Alas, it was the best they could do seeing how they knew practically nothing about their location and captor. She sighed, turning her focus on accepting that fact.

Her mind started to drift off to other things. She remembered how her younger sister, Una Cansi, had told her about her bad feeling concerning this new client Sora had gone off to meet. The "client" that landed her here.

She sighed again.

 _If only she knew._

The memory started to replay in her mind...

"Don't you have enough clients already?" A young, violet-eyed demoness with long, white hair said from the doorway. "I mean, it's not like we're hurting for money or anything. Do you really need to take on another one?"

Sora was standing in front of a dresser with her back to the doorway. "Some of my current clients haven't had any jobs for me lately," she replied as she worked to fasten a uniquely designed harness to herself. "So, yes, Mizuke, I don't think it could hurt to at least see what this new client could offer me."

Harness secured, she preceded to attach the gear it was meant to hold. First was the wakizashi sword. Its place was on her back, black hilt angled down to rest behind her right hip while the point, secured in its scabbard, rested over her left shoulder blade. Behind her left hip was a gun holster that she slipped a Springfield Compact into. She equipped the weapons with ease, having done this routine a hundred times over.

"But Sora, you're pretty much never home. Life isn't all about work, you know," Mizuke wined.

Sora took two strides toward a nearby closet, stifling a sigh. She grabbed a black overcoat and hastily slipped it on. The thin fabric draped down her settle pear-like curves, stopping just above her knees, perfectly concealing the shoulder straps of her harness as well as the weapons secured to it. Exactly what she needed for this outing.

"I know," Sora replied, adjusting the way the light coat rested on her shoulders. Her hands ran over the buttons as she debated on whether she should button up the doubled breasted front or not.

Mizuke huffed irritably. "If you know then why are you always working?"

Sora's hands dropped to her sides at the younger demon's words, leaving the coat undone. She spun around and faced her younger sister, giving her a tired look.

"You know why."

She started for the door but had to stop when Mizuke wouldn't move. Mizuke's brow was wrinkled in a sort of scowl and her arms were folded across her chest.

"I don't think that's the reason, at least not anymore. You've saved up more than enough money. We don't want for anything."

Sora took a moment to take in the image of her sister. She stood a good 6 inches taller than her, though she was 12 years the younger. Her dove white hair came down to her waist with thin braids scattered throughout it. Based on her navy-blue tear-away track pants, white running shoes, and sky-blue tank top, Sora assumed that she had been planning on going for a run.

Sora couldn't help but think about how elegant her sister looked, even when she was mad and looming over her. She had inherited their father's unique colorings but had her mother's hourglass figure and delicate facial features. This combination of traits often led Sora to vividly remember both parents.

Had anyone else been standing in her way, Sora would have shoved right past them. Instead, she softened her gaze, letting out the sigh she had been holding back.

"Yes, and now that I have that saved up, I want to make sure you get into a good college so you can fit in with the humans you love so much. Plus, it never hurts to have a little extra spending money." She patted her sister's shoulder then gently slid past her through the doorway and into the hall.

She started down the stairs, prompting Mizuke to quickly follow after her.

"Please, Sora, don't go! Don't you remember? I did that card reading last night and it said-"

"That I have trouble coming my way, yes, I know," Sora interrupted. "I was there. It also said that I'm supposed to meet someone new who will be in need of my _guidance_ or whatever." She rolled her eyes as the word "guidance" left her lips.

Sora stopped and spun around to face her sister once she reached the bottom of the stairs, stopping the younger demon in her tracks. "Kind of sounds like that could be this new client, which is all the more reason for me to go, don't you think?"

Mizuke groaned as she frowned at her sister. "I really don't think it's this client. The cards suggested a worrier type with a broken heart."

Sora scoffed and rolled her eyes once again. "Okay, so what makes you think it isn't this client?"

"Just because, Sora! There was no indication that it would be something that you got paid for and I just have a feeling, okay?!" Mizuke was starting to sound frantic. "Just please, please, listen to me for once! I'm afraid you're going to get hurt. The cards suggested that helping this new person could cost you!"

Sora let out a harsh laugh and shook her head. "Mizuke, please calm down. Since when do I help people at my own expense? Other than you, that is."

Mizuke took a moment to consider what she said and sighed. "I guess you do have a point."

Sora placed a hand on Mizuke's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be fine. I promise."

Mizuke took a big breath and nodded. Convinced her sister was calming down, Sora turned to leave.

"I'll call to check and see how you're doing, and to make sure you're not throwing any wild parties while I'm away," Sora said jokingly as she opened the front door to leave.

Mizuke just scoffed and rolled her eyes playfully in response, a grin tugging at her lips. Sora returned the grin before walking out the door. She paused before she finished closing the door, looking back at her sister once again.

 _"Du es vi corro, Una Canci."_ Sora said in a soft voice.

Mizuke smiled warmly at her, placing a hand over her heart.

" _Du es vi carro ausi, Zielo Canci."_

Sora smiled before closing the door behind her.

Sora's gaze shifted over to the sleeping fire demon. _A worrier type with a broken heart huh? Mizuke was right about it not being the client I thought I was meeting, but could he be who she was talking about?_ She wondered to herself.

She turned her focus to the concrete ceiling _. Heh. What do I care? Helping him find Mukuro's killer isn't going to cost me a thing. If anything, it'll help keep me busy._

Her gaze returned to Hiei, her next thought making her feel uneasy. _Then again, that may not be what Mizuke's tarot cards were suggesting. They could have been referring to us trying to escape from here._

Her brows cinched together as she continued to watch the sleeping demon's chest rise and fall with each breath. _If we fail to stay unnoticed and become overly outmatched, then our only hope for escape will be for me to try breaking his seal. That would definitely cost me._

She focused on the moon outside the small window again, giving the brilliant space rock a hard look. _It won't come to that._

She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. _Gods, I hope it doesn't come to that._

After heading down the way he'd watched Hiei head the night before, Kurama picked up on his friend's scent and began tracking him. The scent was faint but got stronger as he went. He soon started to pick up on the scent of blood as well and quickened his pace.

He came to a place in the woods where the ground was stained with a sticky, brown substance. Hiei's blood. Anxiously looking around for clues, or a body, Kurama caught the glint of something silver in the grass under one of the nearby trees. He walked over and carefully picked it up. It was a metal blow dart decorated with small black and gold feathers. His nose wrinkled as it found the scent of belladonna emitting from the dart.

Remembering Hiei's habit of sleeping in trees, he took a few steps back to scan the tree he'd found the laced dart under for more clues. He stopped when he saw a faint glimmer of something in a hollowed part of the tree. Jumping up into the tree to investigate, he found the dagger Hiei had shown him the night before. Kurama stood perfectly balance on the branch, looking at the dagger in one hand, the dart in the other, and then down at the blood-stained ground _._

 _Hiei was definitely here, and it looks like someone found him shortly after our meeting last night._

He refocused on the two items he was holding, noting their matching color scheme. They could have easily belonged to the same person. Different possibilities ran through his mind. Drugging Hiei would have made him easier to defeat, but why wasn't there a body? If Hiei's attacker had wanted to keep him alive, then why was there so much blood on the ground?

He put both the items in his backpack and jumped down from the tree. He picked up on the scent of another demon mixed in with the scent of Hiei's blood and started to follow it.

 _The only way I'm going to get to the bottom of this is by finding Hiei._

He eventually came to a place where the scent and blood trail suddenly stopped and immediately knew where Hiei had been taken.

To Demon World.

Hours later, Kurama had picked back up on the trail once he was in Demon World and was now running through a forest. It was now morning. He had spent the entire night tracking his friend's trail. The scent was now stronger than before, telling him he was getting close.

Out of nowhere, a white fox darted by, almost tripping him. He stopped, looking after the fox, but it had already disappeared. Just as suddenly as the fox had darted by, something slammed into him from behind, knocking him face down on the ground.

Someone was on top of him.

Whoever it was quickly scrambled up off of him, allowing him to get up and face them.

In front of him now was a beautiful young woman with long, white hair. Her violet eyes were focused on him, holding a bow with an arrow drawn and aimed straight at his chest. She was breathing hard, trying to give him a leveled look, though the slight widening of her eyes told of the fear she harbored. She didn't want to shoot that arrow unless she had to.

Kurama let out his breath and relaxed his stance after realizing who she was. He recognized her from her file. The woman standing before him was one of the last Raksha demons known to Spirit World, Mizuke Yamagata. Despite her offensive stance, he knew she wasn't a real threat to him.

Mizuke looked him over and took a deep breath, trying to take in his scent. This only confused her as his scent was both human and demon. She felt a little more at ease upon seeing him relax his stance, though she didn't relax her grip on her bow.

Kurama raised his hands as if to surrender. "I mean you no harm," he said calmly.

Mizuke took a calming breath and slowly lowered her bow, keeping her eyes fixated on him.

"I'm sorry I ran into you like that. I didn't see you until it was too late."

Kurama smiled at her and lowered his hands. "It's okay. You wouldn't have run into me had I not stopped."

"Why did you stop?" Mizuke asked, tilting her head slightly.

"A white fox ran by and almost tripped me," he said curiously as he peeked over his shoulder. "It looked like a young Kitsune, but I can't be sure. I didn't get a good look at it."

Her gaze shifted to look over his shoulder as well, though she knew the fox he was referring to was hidden at this point. She placed her arrow back in the quiver, then hung her bow over her shoulder, regaining Kurama's attention.

"Are you lost by chance?"

"Not exactly. Why do you ask?" He answered, tilting his head slightly.

"Oh," she started fidgeting with a lock of her hair, "you just smell heavily of Human World, so I thought you might be a human who accidentally stubbled into Demon World or something."

Despite his calm composure, Kurama's mind was currently racing. He needed to keep tracking Hiei and find him as soon as possible, but at the same time, he'd just had a major lead to Hiei's case drop into his lap. Mizuke could be used to find Sora. He quickly went to work on finding a way to take advantage of the situation.

"A reasonable assumption," he said with a nod, "but not the case here. Though I currently reside in the Human World, I am of both worlds. I'm actually looking for someone. A friend of mine who's gone missing."

"Oh! I see." She stopped fidgeting with her hair, returning her hand to her side. "Are you following the blood trail running through here then?"

He nodded again. "I am."

Mizuke tapped her lips with her index finger, looking off into the direction she had previously been running.

"It would appear that we're heading in the same direction then."

"So, it would seem." Kurama nodded in agreement. "Would you by chance know where the blood trail might be leading me?"

She shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. I'm not familiar with these parts."

"Oh?" Kurama tilted his head curiously.

Mizuke frowned and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. It just so happens that I'm looking for someone too."

"I see," Kurama said.

Mizuke saw a flash of white fur and looked in time to see her white fox friend jump up into a tree and perch itself on a branch right above Kurama. The fox looked down on him, its eyes smiling and tailing wagging back and forth. Then it quickly faded away, disappearing before Kurama could follow her gaze to the branches above him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

Mizuke smiled slightly and shook her head. "Just a bird. It's gone now." She stepped forward and bowed, regaining his attention. "I'm Mizuke by the way."

Kurama hesitated, confused by her sudden introduction and feeling as if he had just missed something. He quickly bowed before she could notice his hesitation, however.

"I'm Kurama. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said politely.

"Pleasure meeting you as well." She straightened herself upright again. "So, Kurama, seeing how we seem to be heading in the same direction and we're both looking for missing people, _and_ your friend is obviously injured, what do you say we keep moving?" She gestured towered their original direction. "I've been studying the art of healing for some time now and could help your friend once we find them."

Kurama gave her a polite smile. He wasn't sure why she had been so quick to trust him, but given the situation, he decided to take it.

"Yes, I think that's an exultant idea. It's possible that our two missing person cases could be connected, after all," Kurama said.

Mizuke nodded. "Yeah, I have a funny feeling that they may be."

Kurama gripped the straps of his backpack. "Let's move quickly. As resilient as my friend is, he has lost a lot of blood."

She nodded again. "Yes, of course."

They took off through the woods, the generously spaced trees allowing them to run side by side for the most part. The lack of underbrush made keeping the quick pace easy, and Kurama was pleased to see that she had no problem keeping up with him.

"So, may I ask who it is you're looking for?" Kurama asked. He saw no reason why he shouldn't try to get some information while he continued his search for Hiei.

"I'm looking for my older sister. She left a little over two weeks ago and I haven't heard anything from her since," she answered, keeping her eyes forward.

"Is it normal for her to be gone for so long?"

"In her line of work, yes, but she always calls or texts me every few days to check on me."

Kurama stole a glance, noting the demoness's troubled expression.

"Why wait so long to go looking for her then?"

She jumped over a fallen branch with ease, maintaining her speed.

"Her job can be dangerous at times, so it's not uncommon for her to find herself in a situation where she can't use her phone for a while. Two weeks is too long though. She always makes it back before that."

"What kind of work does she do?"

Mizuke shook her head. "I'm not allowed to say. However, you're more than welcome to ask her if we find her with your friend."

"Fair enough," he grunted as he jumped over small thorn bush. He didn't want to push the topic and cause her any suspicion.

It was her turn to steal a glance in his direction. "So, what do you think happened to your friend?"

Kurama's jaw clenched as he remembered the blood-soaked ground he'd found shortly after starting his search.

"I believe he was abducted the night before last. He was supposed to meet with me last night, and when he didn't show I went looking for him. I found a pool of his blood and followed the trail from there."

"I see." Her brow creased with worry. "I wonder if that's what happened to her too," she said in a lower voice.

Kurama looked sideways at her. _If Sora isn't with Hiei when we find him then my next objection will be to find her so she can be questioned. Mizuke would be our best chance at finding her, but would she allow me to accompany her on her search after I find Hiei?_ Kurama thought as they continued to run.

His train of thought was interrupted when the demoness gasped.

Mizuke stopped suddenly as a very cold chill ran down her spine. Kurama stopped as well, wondering what had caused her to stop so abruptly.

"Mizuke?"

She stared wide-eyed at nothing, her face paled. Then she started to tremble. Kurama placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to get her to focus.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Worry tainted his voice.

Mizuke couldn't answer. All she could do was stand there as she felt her sister's energy suddenly spike to a very dangerous level. Kurama soon sensed it too and froze, hands still planted on her shoulders.

"What is that?" he asked in awe.

The demoness suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of her neck and screamed, causing Kurama to pull away. Her hands grasped the back of her neck, her body hunching over.

"Mizuke, what is-"

Kurama stopped short as he then felt a different surge in energy. Hiei's energy.

The white and blue fox jumped out into view and barked at them then, bringing Mizuke back to her senses. She looked at the fox and nodded.

"Right, we need to hurry. I have a feeling your friend and my sister are in serious trouble," she said urgently.

"Right." Kurama nodded, not bothering to question why the fox that had tripped him earlier was now urging them forward. There simply wasn't time for that.

They both took off in a full sprint, following the white fox.


	5. Escape

The heavy door at the end of the dungeonous hall opened with a metallic screech. Sora opened her eyes but made no other movement. She sat on her bunk, back resting against the cold wall with her arms and legs crossed.

Hiei laid in his bunk staring at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head. His gaze swung over to meet Sora's upon hearing the door open. She gave him a slight nod as the sound of footsteps began to echo down the hall. He returned the nod and slipped his arms from behind his head, resting them at his sides to better play dead.

It was late morning at this point. Sora had managed to almost completely heal Hiei's wound, however, the guards wouldn't be able to tell with the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his abdomen; purposely made that way to trick them into a false sense of security. Their footsteps drew near and Sora closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing for whatever happened next.

The guards stepped into view of the cell, the first of them clapping his hands slowly.

"Well, well, well, I see your little friend still hasn't recovered much. He actually looks worse now. And here I thought you were supposed to be some great healer or something," the first guard said with a mocking tone.

Sora had nick-named them the Idiot Triplets for good reason. They looked exactly the same; short forest green hair, light green skin, and yellow eyes with reptilian slits for pupils. They were humanoid, wearing grey tee shirts, grey camouflage pants, and black combat boots. The only way to tell them apart was by the small horns growing out of their heads. Because of this, she simply referred to them as Idiot #1, Idiot #2, and Idiot #3.

Sora glared at the first guard. This one had two black horns adorning either side of his forehead and was always the first one to start running his mouth, making him Idiot #1. He had been her main tormentor and the one who had pointed the gun at her when they'd brought Hiei in.

The one caring the keys.

"Well what did you expect?" she bit back grumpily. "That first aid kit was a joke and my energy is sealed away."

The Idiot Triplets took their normal tormenting positions. Idiot #1 leaned against the bars on her side of the cell while his brothers lined up next to him and did the same, their eyes ogling her. Occasionally they would flick their forked tongues at her, much like a snake but creepier.

With Hiei pretending to be out cold she had their full attention.

 _Good_ , she thought.

"Awe, is my poor wittle kitty cat getting grumpy? Would you like some milk to calm you down?" Idiot #1 said teasingly.

He reached behind him to pull something out of his back pocket, a mischievous grin plastered across his face.

"I just so happen to have some for ya today." He brought his hand back around and presented a glass bottle of milk through the bars of the cell to Sora as an offering. "Go on, take it. You know you want it."

Sora scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Idiots."

In a flash, Hiei jumped out of the bunk and grabbed Idiot #2 and #3 by the collars of their shirts. With one quick pull, he yanked them into the bars, bashing their heads and knocking them out. Idiot #1 looked dumbfounded as he watched his brothers slump to the floor.

"H-How did you..." the key bearer managed to stutter out as he stared at Hiei in shock.

The fire demon, now standing there with his arms crossed as if nothing had happened, raised a hand to point over at his cellmate.

"Huh?" The guard swung his gaze back over to Sora, his jaw dropping the moment he laid eyes on her.

She was now standing before him, tossing an empty milk bottle repeatedly into the air, a milk mustache on her upper lip. The guard just gapped at her, confused and speechless. His now empty hand was still presented to her as if he were still holding the bottle.

The demoness ran her tongue over her lip, erasing the milk stash. She flashed the guard blood-chilling smirk.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "It's about time you made yourself useful."

With that, she hurled the milk bottle at him. It shattered as it made contact between his eyes, knocking him out. She quickly stepped forward and grabbed his shirt collar before he could fall backward, slipping the keys off his belt.

"Well, I can honestly say I've never seen _that_ before," Hiei said as he watched Sora go straight to work on unlocking the cell door.

"What, K.O. by milk bottle?" she replied with a touch of sarcasm. "What can I say? I get those sparks of creativity and just have to go for it."

The lock gave a satisfying click as Sora turned the key. She slid the door open, immediately going to work on searching the guards for anything of use. She pocketed one of their guns and a taser, along with any ammunition she could carry.

"Here," Sora said, tossing a set of handcuffs and a bandanna she found on one of the guards to Hiei.

He caught them and wrinkled his nose at the unconscious guards.

"Why not just kill them? They obviously deserve it," he said coldly.

"If you really want to waste your energy on killing them, be my guest. I personally want to save my energy in case I have to fight later," she said coolly as she cuffed and gagged one of the guards.

He grunted but went to work on handcuffing a guard to the bars of the cell. Once they finished binding and gagging the guards, they quietly moved down the hall to the large metal door. Sora cracked the door open, peeking out to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing and hearing nothing in the stairway, she signaled to Hiei to fallow her. They made their way up the stairs till they came to a door marked with a one. Again, Sora cracked the door to make sure it was clear before going through.

They moved into the same hallway Hiei had seen when he had attempted to use his Jagan to look around the building before. It looked very similar to a hospital hallway with its white tiled floors, white walls, and grey doors, most of which were closed.

Both Sora and Hiei looked and listened down either end of the hallway. At one end was a set of double doors, while down the other end was another hall teeing off the hall they stood in. The demoness noticed a map on the wall across the hall from them and walked over to examine it. At the top of the map, it read, "First Floor" and had a red dot showing their location.

"Well that's convenient," she muttered under her breath.

Hiei moved to stand next to her to examine the map as well. "According to this, we're right in the middle of this place. How exactly is that convenient?"

"Well, you're obviously the glass is half empty type," she said in a tired tone before pointing at the map and continuing. "Looks like we need to head down this hall, make a right, keep going and make another right, then it's a straight shot to the front entrance."

Hiei's brow furrowed. "Wouldn't there be more security at the front entrance? Why not go out the back?"

"Because," Sora said simply, "around the corner is the 'Prisoner Processing Center.' I'm willing to bet that's where we were taken first when they brought us here. That would have been when they stripped us of our personal effects before taking us down to the prison quarters." She pointed to the Prisoner Processing Center room on the map before continuing. "I think our best bet is to stop there first and pick up our gear. Then we'll stand a better chance should we run into any problems getting out of here."

"Okay, but I still think we should go out the back," he said, crossing his arms.

"Let's just get our gear and go from there," Sora said as she turned and started down the hallway.

They made their way to the end of the hall quietly, checking around the corners before going right and finding the door labeled "Patient Processing Center." To Sora's surprise, the door was unlocked. They slipped into the darkened room, finding nobody inside. There was enough light shining in through the door's small window to allow them to see their way around.

Across the room was another door with a small window. In the center of the room was a stack of empty plastic bins next to a stainless-steel table. With the way the room was set up, it looked as if prisoners were brought in through one door, stripped of their personal effects, and then taken out the other door. At the back of the room was another door that read "Storage."

Sora looked back at Hiei. "Keep an eye out and let me know if anyone is coming. I'm gonna go in there," she pointed at the door, "and find our stuff."

Hiei nodded and closed his eyes, pushing his headband up off his Jagan. Sora walked to the storage room door, twisting the nob, only to find it was locked. She hummed thoughtfully as she scanned the room, looking for anything she could use to pick the lock but found nothing.

She looked back at Hiei. "Is there anyone close enough to hear a loud-ish bang?"

Hiei opened his eyes, arching a brow at her. "Depends on what you mean by loud-ish."

"If I was to kick down this door for instance." She jabbed a thumb toward the storage room door behind her.

He closed his eyes again to focus. "I don't think they'll hear it."

Sora cocked her head sideways. "They?"

He nodded. "There are five guards down the hall by the front entrance," he answered her without opening his eyes. "They appear to be busy talking."

Sora let out a sarcastic laugh. "Heh, well these guards don't seem to take their job too seriously, lucky for us."

In one fluid motion, she spun around and kicked the door next to the nob. It opened with a crack of breaking wood, prompting her to look back at Hiei to see his reaction. Without having to say anything, he answered the question on her mind with a look and a nod.

Satisfied with his answer, Sora turned her attention to the storage room. She stepped inside, flipping on a light. Every wall was covered with shelves, each filled with labeled boxes and plastic storage bins. She scanned the shelves and quickly found a small bin with Hiei's name on it. She pulled down the bin and set it aside to look for hers. Her stomach knotted when she saw the name "Sora Yamagata" on one of the storage bins. She had been expecting to find "Shadow," not her real name.

She hastily grabbed the bin and started going through the contents. Moving quickly, she pulled on her weapons harness and loaded her gun and sword into their designated slots. Next, she slipped on her black overcoat, relocating the stolen gun and taser into the coat pockets.

A sigh of relief escaped her when she found her cell phone at the bottom of the bin. She flipped the phone open, quickly typing the words, "On my way home," before hitting send and snapping the phone shut.

One more scan of the small storage unit caused the knot in her stomach to return. In the corner of the bin was a black thick banned ring with gold symbols etched all around it. The symbols were those of the Raksha. She picked up the ring with a trembling hand, turning it about to read the words, "Lion Worrier Yamagata."

 _It, it can't be. This is..._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Hiei's irritated voice. "There's a guard making his way down the hall. _What are_ you doing in there?"

Sora pocketed the ring and pushed the empty bin aside. She quickly opened Hiei's bin to pull out its contents; his coat, sword, and two necklaces. She arched a brow at what hung from the necklaces. They looked like hiruseki stones, but these ones were different from the ones she had seen before.

"Interesting," she muttered under her breath before standing and exiting the storage room.

She walked out to find Hiei still standing in the same spot she left him, though now his arms were crossed and he was drumming his fingers on his arm impatiently.

"Here," she said hastily, handing him his things.

The demoness moved to what she guessed was the entrance door, carefully peeking out the small window. She watched as a guard dressed similarly to the Idiot Triplets walked by. With his black hair, blue eyes, and fair skin he could have easily passed for a human. He may not have looked like much, but something about the way he carried himself told her he was a bigger threat than the three idiots tied up in the prison below.

"So, you can see up to the front entrance. Can you see to the back?" she asked in a low voice once the guard rounded the corner down the hall.

She looked back in time to see Hiei, now wearing his coat, close his eyes and concentrate. A moment later she saw a shadow pass over the other door window, indicating that the guard had gone completely past them.

"I only see three guards in the back room," Hiei said finally.

"The back should be a shipping and receiving station according to the map," Sora replied. "I figured there would be more people there loading and unloading trucks or something."

Hiei shook his head. "That is what it appears to be, but there's nobody else back there. Just the three guards standing around chit-chatting."

Sora scoffed. "Must be a slow day. Guess we do this your way and go out the back."

"Heh," was Hiei's only response as he pulled his headband down to conceal his Jagan once again.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't break an arm stroking your ego there, _validi daput_ ," she said resentfully as she rushed past him to the other door.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, following her.

Sora waved a dismissive hand in his direction. "Nothing of importance. Let's just go."

Hiei glared at her but decided not to push the matter. Getting out of this place was more important. He watched as she cracked the door open enough to peek down the hall, making sure the guard who'd walked by before was indeed gone. He was. She slipped out into the hall, Hiei following close behind. After checking down the hallway from which they'd originally come, they started to move past it.

An alarm suddenly sounded off then, echoing through the hallways with a high pitched ring, causing the two escapists to freeze. The Idiot Triplets, along with the other guard they'd seen just moments ago, burst out of the stairwell door down the hallway. Idiot #1 immediately spotted them.

"There they are! After them!"

"Damn. He must have gone to check on them," Hiei growled as his hand instinctively went to his sword.

"This way, hurry!" Sora exclaimed, running down the hall toward the shipping area.

Hiei followed, dodging bullets as a guard started firing his gun. Three guards quickly rounded the corner up ahead, guns in hand, and opened fire. Sora felt a sudden piercing pain in her gut, causing her to stumble. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and suddenly found herself heading down another hallway, away from the barrage of bullets. Within seconds Hiei had carried her to the end of the hall, only to find it was a dead end. Sora caught sight of an open door leading into a dark room.

"There," she hissed, pointing to the room, "quickly!"

Hiei bolted them into the room before the guards had a chance to see, locking the door behind him. A quick glance around the room told them it was some sort of an office. There were a few filing cabinets, a desk with a computer, a computer chair, a couple of wooden chairs in front of the desk, and a fake plant in the corner.

Sora broke away from Hiei and grabbed one of the wooden chairs for support. She stood there gripping the chair while holding her abdomen, her breathing ragged.

"Gods, I just want to go home," she breathed, leaning heavily on the back of the chair.

She lifted her shirt to get a look at her wound, eyes widening at the site.

"This isn't good," she hissed painfully, "I'm not healing."

"What do you mean you're not healing?" Hiei asked.

"Normally my body would have begun mending this wound already, energy sealed or not. But it isn't, not even a little." She gasped as her body shuddered, the pain getting worse. "We're heavily outnumbered, have little power, and now this. Damn it! I didn't want to have to do this."

She reached for the mark on the back of her neck, using her blood to draw a circle with an x over the mark. She applied more blood to her fingertips and reached for Hiei's mark.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked, grabbing her wrist to stop her.

"I have to break your seal. It's our only chance now. You need your full power."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said!" she growled, flinching at the pain her little outburst caused her.

"Yes, there's about an eighty percent chance that doing this will kill me. I'm hoping," her body shuddered with another wave of pain, causing her to cover her bullet wound with her free hand, "praying that I can pull my energy from my blood to break the seal. It wasn't done properly so that should play in my favor. Once I do, I'll likely be knocked unconscious, so it'll be up to you to get us out of here."

Hiei furrowed his brow, loosening his grip on her wrist. He gave her a once over, his mind working to figure out how he was going to get them out of this place with her in this weakened condition.

"Nonsense, I need you alive. You're the only one who has enough information to help me find the bastard that killed Mukuro. We simply need to figure out another way out of here."

A hiss escaped Sora as another wave of pain shook her, provoking Hiei to release her wrist. She hunched over, hugging her abdomen, willing herself to stay on her feet.

"I don't think I'll be conscious much longer, so either I pass out and leave you here powerless and outnumbered, or you let me break your seal so I have some chance of surviving this." She lifted her head to look up at him. "Decide now. I personally would like at least one of us to live long enough to avenge Mukuro."

Hiei's hands clenched into fists at his sides, his gaze never leaving hers. Either allow her to possibly die now or wait and die along with her. As much as he hated it, she was right. They really didn't have another choice. The sound of a door slamming shut from somewhere down the hallway drew his attention. It wouldn't be long before the guards found them.

"Well, Hiei?" she breathed.

He sneered at the door with a low growl before returning his attention to Sora.

"Do what you need to do."

The demoness straightened up as best as she could and stepped up to Hiei. Keeping one hand over her wound, her other blood-soaked hand reached up to grasp the back of his neck, eyes locked on his.

 _"Ba zel balid vut ringa medi vi zenas,"_ she began to chant in what Hiei assumed was the Raksha language.

Her irises began to glow, brightening with each word until they were a brilliant blue. At the same time, Hiei also felt the marking heat up beneath her hand. He hoped that was a sign that it was working.

 _"Igo balorba helevo du zum bet vemonhilo obliga!"_

The moment she stopped chanting was the moment Hiei felt a sharp burning pain on the back of his neck, causing him to yell. He clamped his hands over the pained area as he dropped to his knees, Sora collapsing in front of him. Thankfully, the pain left as quickly as it had hit, allowing him to regain his wits. His gaze immediately went to the demoness lying before him.

She wasn't moving.

He moved to kneel over her to find her wound was still bleeding out. He ripped off the bottom half of her shirt and tied it tightly around her abdomen. With no healing powers of his own, it was all he could think to do.

Someone started banging on the door then, earning a threatening growl from the fire demon.

"Surrender now and we'll let you live!" a guard shouted from the other side.

Anger started boiling within Hiei. He stood and turned to face the door, his spirit energy rising with his anger. Sora had succeeded. She had removed the mark and now he was at his full power again.

"Break down the door!" he heard another guard shout.

He drew his sword and waited. With a loud bang, followed by the cracking of breaking wood, the door swung open.

Before any of the guards could come through, Hiei lunged himself through the doorway. Using his speed, he struck down the guards. Within seconds they were all lying in bloody heaps at his feet. He returned his sword to his side and turned to head back into the room to get Sora, stopping only when he heard footsteps down the hall.

A lot of footsteps.

He looked in time to see more guards flooding into the hall.

"I don't have time for this," he growled.

He threw off his coat, swiftly unwrapping the bandages from his right arm. "I'll just have to take this whole place down. Dragon of the Darkness Flame!"

Kurama and Mizuke burst out of the woods and stopped, staring in shock at what they saw. A black, fiery dragon was circling over the top of a crumbled, burning heap of what was once a large building. The dragon soon dissipated before their eyes, leaving only destruction behind.

"What on earth was that?!" Mizuke exclaimed.

"The Dragon of the Darkness Flame! Hiei must have released it," Kurama answered, still staring at the sky in awe.

"Look!" Mizuke said, pointing at the burning building.

Kurama looked, spotting someone walking away from the burning heap toward them. They were carrying someone in their arms. Kurama quickly recognized his friend and started running for him.

"Hiei!"

Raksha Language Translations:

 _validi daput_ = hot head

 _Ba zel balid vut ringa medi vi zenas,_ _Igo balorba helevo du zum bet vemonhilo obliga!_ =By the power that flows through my veins, I hereby release you from this demonic binding!


End file.
